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| Founded | 2007 (as Air Azul) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 2009 | |||
| Focus cities | ||||
| Fleet size | 1 (+19 Orders) | |||
| Destinations | 6 | |||
| Parent company | Sun America inc. | |||
| Headquarters | Pinellas County, Florida | |||
| Key people | John Weikle | |||
| Website | http://www.jetamerica.com (Defunct) | |||
Sun America, Inc., d/b/a JetAmerica, was a proposed American low-cost scheduled public charter airline headquartered in unincorporated Pinellas County, Florida. On March 10, 2009, the airline announced a number of public scheduled charter flights from underutilized airports to Newark and Minneapolis-St.Paul utilizing a Miami Air International Boeing 737-800 slated to begin on June 30, 2009. On May 27, 2009, the airline held its first formal press conference at Toledo Express Airport, OH announcing its first focus city and the start of flight operations on July 13, 2009. The airline formally announced the station markets of Lansing, MI; Melbourne, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Newark, NJ; South Bend, IN; and Toledo, OH. The airline also publicly stated it is evaluating service to Baltimore, MD; Charleston, WV; Chicago Midway, IL; Rockford, IL; Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton, OH; Greensboro, NC; Hartford, CT; Pittsburgh, PA; and Clearwater, FL.[1] The airline later delayed the start of service to August 14, 2009.[2] However, JetAmerica had yet to begin service as of August 2009, unable to finalize slots at Newark.
On July 18, 2009, the company announced that it was suspending its operations, and refunding the customers who had already bought tickets.[3]
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The chairman of Sun America,[4] the "parent company" of JetAmerica, is investor Steve Schoen who also was involved as a primary investor of the failed Southeast Airlines; another low-cost carrier which declined into bankruptcy after concerns about improper record keeping and maintenance issues arose. Steve Schoen put up no money in this most recent business endeavor and was able to convince other investors to put up all the seed money for JetAmerica.[5]
JetAmerica had planned to operate under the name Air Azul, but on May 4, 2009, the company changed its name to Jet America, citing internal changes including no longer being associated with Sun Country Airlines.[6][7] Concerns were addressed that its name was too similar to a Brazilian airline (Azul Brazilian Airlines) started by former JetBlue founder, David Neeleman. The company had since adopted the name and logo by the previous startup attempt let by John Weikle,[8] who formerly was the founder of Skybus Airlines.
The airline also had partnered with Locair to provide Fairchild Metro service between Somerset, KY and Nashville,TN. This agreement however was terminated earlier in 2009 when the business plan was changed to the JetAmerica idea.[9]
Air Azul originally planned flights to Newark, Baltimore, and various midwestern cities. The Baltimore flights were dropped after Air Azul initially suspended flights in April 2009[10] and was renamed JetAmerica.[7][11]
JetAmerica's proposed schedule included services to the following destinations in the United States:[2]
| Aircraft | Total | Orders | Passengers (First/Economy) | Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-800 | 1 | 19 within 5 years[12] | 0/189 | All Routes | Operated by Miami Air International |
JetAmerica had announced plans to add a second Boeing 737-800 in July,[13] and up to as many as four by July 2010. The company's business plan, as announced by Weikle, would have added an additional aircraft every four months.
When JetAmerica was known as Air Azul, their original plan was to operate flights with air crew and aircraft leased from Sun Country Airlines using Boeing 737-800 with 12 first class seats and 150 coach seats, but financing and business plan changes altered this.